Network and Security for the Everyday User

I am currently in college finishing my final quarter before graduating August 16th, 2012 with two Associate in Applied Science degrees. I labeled the home page “Network and Security for the Everyday User” to reflect my degree fields. The purpose of this blog is to offer a simplistic overview for the non IT person who wishes to better understand basic networking and security as applied to home and business use.

We will talk about:

A broad range covering miscellaneous topics for the home user offering easy explanations about the interaction of different email services (i.e. Outlook, Hotmail, Gmail, Windows Live Mail) and your PC. How your computer web browser locates a specific website through Domain Name Resolution (DNS). Setting up a user account separate from the administrator account and why. How to network in a home environment including accessing file from one PC while working in another. Security as related to Antivirus, AntiMalware, different Viruses, Spyware, Malware, Phishing scams, etc. and what they do. Additionally, we will discuss some cool tips and tricks you can use at home to be more effiecient.

For the workplace user, we will talk about common network topologies, the components involved and how they communicate. What can cause bottlenecks and slow down network performance, printers and queueing, remote connection, how your workstation accesses the internet within a network environment. Email exchange accounts. What happens when you access data on a database server regarding bandwidth, latency, reports, etc. We will finish with the important subject of network security and whats going on behind the scenes, i.e. login’s, file permissions, access and how security is used to protect outsides from the entire network of your company.

My goal is to present material in an easy to understand format divided into two main categories, home user and workplace user. This blog will be for users who aren’t concerned with all the technical details , but may want to better understand how things work and when they don’t, why. Believe me, understanding the basics will lessen the frustration that occurs when things are’nt working as designed. At home this might mean not calling your ISP if you can’t connect to the internet or better understand how to check issues that arise within your PC. In a workplace setting, this might mean fewer calls to your IT department allowing them to spend more time keeping high network availability (when things runs smooth and you have access to the resources you need) to all clients internal and external.

A final note about this blog:

The reason for this blog is to benefit my clients, family, friends and others who interact with me on a regular basis. Here I will answer some of their questions and offer simple tutorials explaning different topics from the world of Information Technology as related to the everyday user.